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This online course explores the possibilities of maple sugaring on your land – be it for supplemental income or for your livelihood. The material presented will assume little past knowledge of sugaring, but a background in agriculture or forestry will be very helpful.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Identify the potential opportunities for producing maple sap and syrup on your land
• Develop and manage a forest stand for optimal maple sap production and long-term health and productivity
• Understand the costs and benefits of utilizing buckets, bags, gravity tubing, or vacuum enhanced tubing systems to gather sap
• Design a maple tubing system to achieve maximum sap yields in a cost-effective manner
• Understand the pros and cons and logistics of buying sap or leasing taps as a means of expanding your production
• Process sap in to syrup in a cost effective manner that is appropriate for the size of the operation
• Filter, package, and label maple syrup for sale according to the new grading system developed by the International Maple Syrup Institute
• Develop a basic business plan for a successful sugaring operation

Instructors

Michael Farrell is the Director of the Uihlein Forest- Cornell University’s Maple Syrup Research & Extension Field Station in Lake Placid, NY.

Peter Smallidge is the NYS Extension Forester and Director of the Arnot Forest for Cornell University.

Steve Gabriel is an agroforestry specialist with the Cornell Small Farms Program, and co-owner of Wellspring Forest Farm.